


What Baking Can Do

by Yaxis



Category: Callisto 6 (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 03:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18460412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yaxis/pseuds/Yaxis
Summary: After everything that happened at the corporate technical expo, this doesn’t even rank on the levels of weird. A riot, a back alley with Lacy, Hopps, and Anton, some random passersby, a flash of light, superpowers, and now here she is back at work as though nothing at all had happened.So, no, as far as weird goes, it’s not that weird.Of course she recognizes some of her regulars at the bakery.(AKA: So what if Luma recognizes certain regular customers more than others? It happens. It doesn't mean anything, really.)





	What Baking Can Do

It’s not weird.

After everything that happened at the corporate technical expo, this doesn’t even rank highly as on the levels of weird. A riot, a back alley with Lacy, Hopps, and Anton, some random passersby, a flash of light, superpowers, and now here they are back at work as though nothing at all had happened.

So, no, as far as weird goes, it’s not that weird.

Of course she recognizes some of her regulars at the bakery.

Lacy has pointed out that Luma doesn’t remember all of their orders the way that she does with some regulars but no one can blame her for taking note of the particularly nice customers, right? The more nice interactions that she has with someone, the more likely she is to remember their name and their order. That just makes sense.

The unusually kind customers happen to stand out just as much as the horrifically rude, snippy customers that frequent the shop every day. The kind, amiable ones hold conversations with her, flash their smiles, laugh at her mediocre jokes, and just overall treat her like a human being worthy of their attention and respect even during these brief encounters. The rude ones always have some type of complaint about her, her behavior, the establishment itself, the other customers, or some unnecessary combination of those.

Unfortunately, she’s been dealing with the latter of those for almost ten minutes now.

“Ma’am, I’m very, very sorry but, as I’ve said before, we just don’t have anymore croissants in stock this morning.” Luma repeats in that forcedly level voice that she’s been wearily maintaining. As the woman raises her voice even louder, one hand on the counter next to the register and a finger pointed way too close to her face, Luma glances sideways in the direction of the manager. Fawn is finding way too much amusement in just watching Luma have to deal with this irate, entitled jackass.

When the front door to the bakery opens and closes with a familiar voice and bright laughter, Luma can’t help but let her attention shift over in that direction even as the customer continues to shriek in her directly about the customer service, how she’s acting, how she looks, what her job is, on and on and on. A little thrill rises in her chest because, yes, this is Cass coming around for her regular visit.

Cass has been coming to the bakery for a couple of months now. Sometimes there’s this beautiful woman with truly impeccable style that she hears Cass address as Oya with her, sometimes she comes in alone, sometimes there’s a couple of other strangers that come around with her. Oya comes around most often with Cass and, from what Luma’s seen of them, they seem to be as close to each other as she is with Lacy.

Oya’s here but she’s not the only one with Cass today.

Oya and the other woman break off to sit at a table while Cass focuses in on the woman still shrilly yelling in her face. Luma feels heat climb up her neck, eyes snapping away from the woman who herself has gone red in the face from the tantrum that she’s throwing. This was not exactly her finest, most suave moment to be caught in. Usually when Cass comes in Luma tries to be casually busy and ready to talk with her.

“Hey!” Cass is right there in front of her and facing the angry woman. Her shoulders are rolled back, chin tilted up, and brow furrowed in clear displeasure. “Obviously you’re upset and whatever but, seriously, can you fuck off with all of this bullshit? She has a job to do and you’re making an asshole out of yourself.”

The woman stares, red-faced and trembling with rage, right at Cass.

After a long minute of opening and closing her mouth like a gobsmacked fish, she finally turns on her heel and marches right out of the front door. A quick glance at Fawn shows that her manager is sadistically displeased at having her entertainment shut down early. With a huff and narrowed eyes, Fawn disappears back into the kitchen.

“You okay?”

Luma snaps her attention back to Cass who looks frustrated, hands jammed into the pockets of her jacket, but concerned. She doesn’t even have superpowers but still manages to pop right in at the perfect time to get her day back onto a better track without having to listen to that woman screech about her every negative quality for another fifteen minutes.

“Yeah, yes. I’m good, uh, thank you! What can I get for you? And it’s on the house. Just as a thank you.” Luma finds herself rambling through just a fraction of the words that she wants to say to Cass. She’s usually so much better than this at social interactions but, well, this is Cass.

Cass, the customer, she reminds herself with a sheepish smile. Just another friendly customer whose name she happens to know and whose best friend she recognizes. Which, again, isn’t weird. Cass is just a friendly person with a demeanor that reminds her of Hawk at a glance. That’s probably the biggest reason that Cass stands out. The stark similarities to someone she loves just make Cass stand out more prominently than most others, that’s all. Totally not a weird thing.

Cass scrunches her nose up for a moment, “You don’t need to do that. I don’t get why everyone else let that go on for so long anyway.”

“Yeah, well…” Luma wishes she could say that she’s surprised that no one stepped in, “I want to do it anyway. No more arguing! You’re going to get a free drink whether you like it or not.”

“Oh, uh, thanks then!” Cass grins, one of her hands moving to rub the back of her neck in what seems like a self-conscious way.

Luma could recite the order and just have it down from memory. Coffee, black, two donuts. Simple and consistent, every single time that Cass and Oya decide to come in for their weekly sit down over in the corner booth. Cass drinks the coffee, Oya drinks from her own thermos, they both talk animatedly to each other and enjoy their donuts over the course of an hour or so and, okay, maybe knowing that detail steps over the line of not weird into weird.

“Caramel Macchiato, uh… venti? With skim milk and extra whipped cream but, like, the sugar free type.”

Or maybe not so consistent.

Luma misses a beat but quickly recovers to grab a cup to write the details down on. 

“And, uh, a black coffee and two donuts. But at least let me pay for those, okay?” Cass asks even though she’s already pulling out cash to do so. Luma’s about to protest but, as though she can read Luma’s mind, Cass threateningly holds the wad of cash over the tip jar instead. Clearly she’s going to spend the money one way or another no matter what Luma says about it.

Damn, that’s charming.

“Alright, alright.” Luma reluctantly relents. Even though Cass’s name is already on the cup, she has to at least ask, “And what name for the order?”

“Cass.”

“Well, Cass, everything will be ready in a minute.”

Cass moves over to the end of the counter to wait, fingers carding through her brightly colored hair.

As always, Luma sneaks little looks over the brewing coffee and picking out the best looking donuts. No one can blame her for being a little curious, right? There’s nothing weird about being a bit invested in a friendly face especially after that (gorgeous) face has gone out of her way to stand up for her when no one else around could be bothered to do so. Not that she’s appreciating Cass in a creepy way. She just happens to have eyes that can see and, clearly, anyone with eyes that could see would be able to objectively say that Cass is nice to look at.

Cass bounces on the balls of her feet as she waits, fidgets with her hands on her neck or crossed in front of her body. There’s a certain restlessness about her, more so than usual. It’s a little strange the more that Luma watches the behavior. It’s almost as thought she’s curling in on herself, shoulders squared up around her ears, body situated to be as out of the way as possible. Like she doesn’t want to touch anything or anyone.

Luma’s eyes shift over to Oya over at the table with the other woman.

Now that she’s looking closely, Oya isn’t looking so hot either. Her face is a little tight, lips forced into a smile as the pretty woman across from her chatters on about something. Her hands are clasped on the table in front of her, her head is down a little, her coloring seems a little pale as though she’s come down with a bug. Maybe something is stressing out the both of them right now. If that’s the case, it certainly doesn’t seem to be impacting their friend.

Still, Cass offers her a smile when she passes over the drinks and donuts. She straightens up, rolls her shoulders back as though trying to alleviate some tension, and is oddly delicate with how she picks up each drink. No one is ever that careful with their drinks when they pick them up from her.

Well, Luma plasters her smile on her face but can’t stop herself from continuing to steal glances over at their table as Cass slides into the seat next to the woman she doesn’t recognize. Maybe some of their friend’s peppiness would alleviate some of the stress that seems to be plaguing Cass and Oya.

The woman, tossing her blonde hair back over her shoulder, leans over towards Cass and --

Oh.

Luma hisses as she catches her finger on the side of the espresso machine. She looks back up.

She’s not a friend, then. She’s Cass’s girlfriend.

Luma makes a point to avoid looking over in their group’s direction until they get up and leave some time later.


End file.
